Origins Game Fair 2025 Purchases

 

    These naturally colored pottery pieces from A Critical Hit are ready to use & authentic looking

I was very restrained in my purchases in the sprawling dealer area of Origins Game Fair. Granted, there were a lot of booths I wasn't interested in -- jewelry, role-playing games, fancy dice, etc. However, I was trying to stick to my silly mantra of having my purchases not exceed my sales at a convention. With no flea market, this meant the Origins Consignment Shop. I put in three items, which would have totaled $155 if all three sold. Sadly, only the 3-D printed Alien Grays sold. That meant I was limited to $58.50 in purchases (my profit after the 10% consignment fee), if I followed my rule.

    Unlike the pottery, I will paint these pallets up to make them look more like fresh wood

I wandered through the dealer area on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I thought I'd scout things out and make my purchases the last day. However, I couldn't hold back and bought about $20 worth of stuff from A Critical Hit -- one of my favorite places for 3-D printed scatter. I also stopped by to look at Beldolor Studios, who makes very interesting 3-D printed anthropomorphic animals and other oddities. Their miniatures are a gray resin that seems a bit more sturdy than typical 3-D printed minis. Last year, I'd picked up five of their Gatorfolk. This year, I was looking at the various types of Fishfolk. The roughly 28mm size ones were $8 each (cheaper than the $10 listed on their website), and the bigger ones were at least $15. I decided to wait till Sunday when I would find out how many of my store items had sold before making any purchases.

    Pike (armed with a pike!) from Beldolor Studios -- the images of their figs are from their website

There are also lots of board game dealers at Origins, which makes sense as board games seem to outnumber miniatures there in the gaming hall. However, I make my board game purchases very carefully -- or at least I try to! Nevertheless, I have made some unwise purchases over the years. In fact, one of those was in the consignment shop -- GMT's Ancient Civilizations of the Middle East. We had played it three times before decided it was simply too long of a game with too convoluted of systems (despite its 7.2 out of 10 rating on Boardgamegeek). Plus, it is a simply brutal game with players hammering each other with event cards, some of which quite literally take a player out of the running for winning the game. Since there wasn't a game I'd researched prior to the convention and was looking for, I wouldn't be buying any board games.

    Beldolor Studios also had a pike armed with a trident in their line of 'Fishfolk'

There were a lot more dealer booths that had accessories for miniatures this year. Besides A Critical Hit, there were ones that carried paints, flocking, and other interesting items. Warlord Games, was there -- a legitimate historical miniatures vendor. Jon Russell from Warlord interfaces with the Origins staff to promote miniatures at the convention, and especially historicals. However, I don't currently play any of the games he had brought miniatures for. Plus, I think I have set myself a hard enough task if I hope to have my "Painted" exceed my "Acquired" by the end of the year! Lately, I have bought a lot of miniatures with the Vietnam and Fantasy projects. The last thing I needed was a random box of plastic figures for a game I don't play. I really appreciate Warlord Games being there, though. I just didn't need anything from him this year (last year I bought some terrain at his booth, though). 

    I also picked up this Bass Fishfolk -- I love the details and originality of their resin 3-D prints

Sunday rolled around and I was disappointed to be bringing back home with me two of my three items that did not sell. I did stop by Beldolor Studios and picked up three of their Fishmen and two other miniatures from their "Misprints" box that looked fine to me. With those minimal acquisitions, I kept my dealer room expenses under my meager profit from the consignment store. Historicon is coming up in a month, so I will get a chance to shop in a dealer room that fits my tastes much better soon! They also have a real flea market, which hopefully I will do well in again, funding more purchases!

    3-D printed, two wheeled cart for only $4 from A Critical Hit - I probably should have bought more!

I've adjusted my Acquired vs. Painted totals below with what I bought at Origins. I am also adding in  scatter and terrain that I painted up, but probably won't do a post on. However, I am not putting in the 10 Vietnam figures I have finished, as I will definitely do a post on them. So, the MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted should actually be better. Soon...

MINIATURES Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Miniatures acquired in 2025: 237
  
• Miniatures painted in 2025: 117 

TERRAIN Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Terrain acquired in 2025: 21
  
• Terrain painted in 2025: 41

SCATTER Acquired vs. Painted Tally for 2025

• Scatter acquired in 2025: 115
  
• Scatter painted in 2025: 106

    I liked these park benches, too, though I will likely touch up the wood on them and maybe the metal

    I loved how these crystals from A Critical Hit looked when I flocked them last time, so I bought more

    Image is poor, but these 3-D printed toilets will doubtless show up in the yard of one of my trailers!

 

    From their "miscast" bin, I picked up one of these very large Eldritch Deer from Beldolor Studios

    From their "Extinct" line, this Thylacine is also known as a Tasmanian Tiger - another $2 'miscast'